August Criterion Blu-Rays Announced

And boy am I excited; for we’re finally getting a quality transfer of Pedro Almodóvar’s Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down! Now if we could just get a Criterion of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. But I digress…

Although not a lot of titles, there are five good ones here. I have quite fond memories of Y Tu Mamá También as it was one of the first foreign language films I saw in a theater. Vengeance is Mine was one I used to own (the standard Criterion DVD) until about three years ago. We had a contest here in the third row and someone chose that DVD as their prize, so I had to cough it up. All that Jazz is on my list of shame and one I’ve been meaning to get to for a while – long live the memory of the Scheider! Meanwhile, John Cassavetes Love Streams is one I know next to nothing about.

At any rate, here’s a quick breakdown of August releases from Criterion…

Special Features:

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed 3.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Two audio commentaries: a feature-length one with editor Alan Heim and a scene-specific one with actor Roy Scheider
Razzle-Dazzle, a new video essay on the film by critic Matt Zoller Seitz
Episode from 1980 of the television talk show Tomorrow, featuring director Bob Fosse and choreographer Agnes de Mille
New interview with Heim
New interview with Fosse biographer Sam Wasson
Interview excerpts and footage from the set, featuring Fosse and Scheider
Portrait of a Choreographer, a 2007 documentary on Fosse
The Soundtrack: Perverting the Standards, a 2007 documentary about the music in the film
Interview from 2007 with George Benson about his song “On Broadway,” which opens the film
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by theater critic Hilton Als
More!

Special Features:

New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New audio commentary featuring writer Michael Ventura
New video essay on actor Gena Rowlands by film critic Sheila O’Malley
New interviews with executive producer and director of photography Al Ruban and actor Diahnne Abbott
Interview from 2008 with actor Seymour Cassel
“I’m Almost Not Crazy . . .”—John Cassavetes: The Man and His Work (1984), a sixty-minute documentary by Ventura on the making of Love Streams
Trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Dennis Lim and a 1984 piece by Cassavetes on the film from the New York Times

Special Features:

New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director Pedro Almodóvar and executive producer Agustín Almodóvar, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
New documentary on the making of the film including interviews with Pedro and Agustín Almodóvar; actors Antonio Banderas, Victoria Abril, Loles Léon, Rossy de Palma, and Penélope Cruz; production manager Esther García; editor José Salcedo; and cinematographer José Luis Alcaine
New interview with Almodóvar collaborator and Sony Pictures Classics copresident Michael Barker
Conversation from 2003 between Almodóvar and Banderas
Footage from the film’s 1990 premieres in Madrid and New York
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring a 1990 piece about the film by Almodóvar, a conversation between filmmaker Wes Anderson and critic Kent Jones, and an interview with Almodóvar from 1989

Special Features:

New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Audio commentary from 2005 featuring critic Tony Rayns
Excerpts from a 1999 interview with director Shohei Imamura, produced by the Directors Guild of Japan
Trailer and teaser
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Atkinson, a 1994 interview with Imamura by writer Toichi Nakata, and writings by Imamura on Vengeance Is Mine and his approach to filmmaking

Special Features:

New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki and approved by director Alfonso Cuarón, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
On “Y tu mamá también”: Then and On “Y tu mamá también”: Now, two new pieces on the making of the film, featuring interviews with actors Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, and Maribel Verdú; Cuarón; cowriter Carlos Cuarón; and Lubezki
New interview with philosopher Slavoj Žižek about the film
On-set documentary from 2001
Deleted scenes
You Owe Me One (2002), a short film by Carlos Cuarón
Trailers
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Charles Taylor and character biographies by Carlos Cuarón

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